Destruction of Gaza hospital meant 'devastating loss of human life': UK foreign secretary

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - The British foreign secretary said the razing to the ground of the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza on Tuesday meant a "devastating loss of human life."

"The destruction of Al-Ahli Hospital is a devastating loss of human life ... the protection of civilian life must come first," James Cleverly wrote on X.

"The UK will work with our allies to find out what has happened and protect innocent civilians in Gaza," he added.

More than 500 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital on Tuesday, Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told Anadolu.

Footage showed corpses scattered across the grounds of the hospital, which was reportedly run by the Church of England.

According to an Anadolu reporter, thousands of Palestinians were at the hospital when the building came under bombardment.

The Palestinian group Hamas called Israel's targeting of the hospital an act of "genocide."